Nouman Ali Khan – Our Father

			Today, Skoda and Charlton are probably the next couple of holebas are going to be dedicated to the
season that we're in, which is the season of Ibraheem alehissalaam and reviewing some lessons from
his legacy. You probably heard me speak about Ibrahim alayhis salam often I'll just remind you of
some fundamental things that I think we need to review. I need to review and all of us need to
review continuously. Allah has given our religion many names, the straight path of silicon Mr. Kim,
for example, is one of the names of our religion. Islam, of course, is the most common, you know,
common name, but another name of our religion is actually millet, Ibrahim, the religion of Ibrahim.
		

			And it's not just military Rahim. Its military a vehicle of Rahim, which is interesting than the
religion of your father, Ibrahim. And it's important to note that of all prophets that Allah talks
about Allah does not mention them as our father directly, except for Ibrahim alayhis salam, and
Allah knowing that we are not all descendants biologically of Abraham Elisa Lam still calls him our
father. As a matter of fact, Allah acknowledged in the Quran that the Muslims are going to be far
beyond just the lineage of Ibrahim Alayhi Salaam through smile, or just the Arabs Allah said what
are serene, I mean, Homeland Mayakoba him, there are others than them meaning other than the Arabs
		

			that haven't yet joined them. And as a matter of fact, today, the majority of the oma is not Arabs.
Which means it's very hard to say that these are children of Ibrahim Alayhi Salaam, directly
descendants of Ibrahim Ali Salaam are connected to that lineage in some way. But regardless, Allah
made a connection between ourselves and our father Ibrahim alayhi salam, not just to believe in him
as one of the messengers but actually as our father. And that's an important distinction of within
Allah as we we know Rasul within those that were given great commitment and had incredible missions
of all the messengers, the five that are mentioned over and over again, Rahim Allah Salam stands in
		

			a unique place. He's also unique because our Prophet alayhi salaatu wa Salaam in the IDI recited and
other places, he's been commanded it to be a military, Ibrahima Hannifin. You follow the religion of
Ibrahim alayhis salam. And actually one way of looking at the career of our Prophet sallallahu
alayhi wa sallam is that his 23 years were actually dedicated to restoring Makkah to its original
purpose, which was inaugurated by his father Ibrahim alayhis. Salam, as a matter of fact, liberating
the Kaaba, which is finally his agenda and also the law he will fight, you know, and finally
restoring its place and removing shirk what our messenger did sallallahu alayhi wa sallam is
		

			actually to bring back the original legacy of Ibrahim alayhis salam. So it's important to understand
that our religion, if it's a tree, that its roots are with Ibrahim alayhis salam, that it's actually
deeply connected to him. And so it's important if you know, somebody, sometimes people ask me, if I
have a non Muslim friend, and I want to introduce them to Islam, what should I tell them? or How
should I introduce them to the Prophet Muhammad Sallallahu wasallam. My personal recommendation of
course, you can go many different ways. It depends on who you're talking to, what their background
is, etc. but I personally feel one of the most powerful beginnings common grounds. And one of the
		

			most essential introductions to Islam is actually to introduce people to Ibrahim alayhis salaam,
himself. As a matter of fact, even previous religions, which believed in Ibrahim Ali Salaam, like
the Jewish and the Christian people, their picture of Ibrahim Alayhi Salam and who he is, is
actually very different from what the Quran paints. Our picture of Ibrahim al Islam is extremely,
extremely different. So we have to reintroduce even our Christian and Jewish brothers and sisters to
Ibrahim Ali Salaam, because Allah reintroduced him in the Quran, and restored the legacy of our
father as it was meant to be. In any case now, because we are closing in closing in on hype season,
		

			I wanted to take some time and highlight some things about Abraham Elisa, not just to go over his
story, but really, more importantly, why is it that Allah mentions his story so much? It's not just
that we know what happened. We have to know what that means for you and me today. Well, you know,
that's, that's actually the purpose of these stories is that they have to come to life in some way
in my life and in your life. And so I want to start with a comment that I made about Ibrahim alayhis
salaam that's very unique. He said in the Ibrahima Kana omoton. That Ibrahim alayhis. Salaam no
doubt was a nation. He was an oma, he was a nation. That's a really interesting thing to say because
		

			a nation is a group of people and as a fact, as a matter of fact, everywhere in the Quran when you
see the word Omar it's either used for entire nations of people,
		

			you know, tilaka, Oman, kottelat, a group of people It's also used for a small bunch of people that
are doing the same thing. What was your idea? He omata mina naseous Cohn masala Islam came upon a
group of people that were feeding their animals, that group of people were called meta millionaires,
right. So the word you can use for jamaa can be used for comb. It can be used for an entire nation
of people. It can be used for a group of people, but it's a particular word of the Arabic language.
That actually means people that are doing or thinking or have something in common that are doing
that or have the same direction in some way.
		

			The people by the league were actually doing the same thing feeding an animal, feeding their own
animals. So they became an oma, all the sons of you know, it's like we're saying the same thing,
they were on the same page, so it lets us tell our own Matan palette, this oh my supposed to be
theoretically on the same page we're supposed to have one direction, which is why I'm my own boo in
Arabic actually means to lead or to have a particular direction from it you get the word to mom
which is which is cost actually to head for something that isn't just to get dirt and you know, if
you can't find water you do tell mom to purify yourself, the aim is to do to mama means to the head
		

			towards or have the intention to go towards the dirt. So you can use that instead of water. If you
can seek water seek that instead. In other words, the word Omi actually means something a group of
people that have a particular direction. Now this let's understand what that implies, by the way
who's ever child that is it's okay for children to cry, I have no problem whatsoever. But if you can
do a courtesy to everybody else and take a walk and calm him down, it will help everybody
concentrate also in trauma. Because I know in large audiences, when you try to explain something,
the smallest of noises become the biggest distraction for you. So, but try to ignore it, it's okay
		

			May Allah bless the parents that bring their children to Juma and I appreciate that you bring them
here. And it's okay allows them to reward the parents and it's probably the mom holding the baby
anyway. So a lot of reward the moms that are being patient and be patient, if they're around, you
just be extra patient with them. There's also someone was patient with children, when they would
cry. And when they would make noise in the machine, he wouldn't get angry at them. You know, so just
just have extra courtesy to those who have that trauma. For me, I have seven children. This is
background noise to me doesn't I don't even hear it. So this is, you know, that used to be that
		

			these things would wake me up now they help me sleep. So you know, it's different. So.
		

			So in any case, so Ibrahim alayhis salam being a nation, by the way, are the parents there? Can we
check on this child? I'm getting worried.
		

			And somebody please check.
		

			And the parents are there. Okay. All right. So Ibrahim Ali Salam being a nation by himself, being a
nation by himself, this is a really interesting thing to say, because again, a nation that has the
same direction, let me put it in simple language for you. It's called peer pressure, societal
pressure, when everybody's doing something, you feel like you should do it, too. If everybody
dresses a certain way you feel like you should dress that's how everybody dresses. You know, I feel
weird not dressing this way. You know, crazy example that I want to give you is, you know, policies
at the beach, in certain countries in the world, you're supposed to dress inappropriately at a
		

			beach. And if you're covered up as a female, you can actually get in trouble. Because the beach
policy is that you have to be exposed. Because everybody does that now and just two feet away from
the beach, that would be in decency in an office building, that would be inappropriate, but right in
this setting, because everybody's doing it, that becomes normal. In other words, when a majority
decides what's normal, when a group of people decide this is what we're going to do, and that's
what's right to do. And that becomes they become an oma in a sense, they collectively have a
momentum, you can imagine it if you want to give it a visual, it's like a river that has a flow, you
		

			can't go against the stream. Everybody's going this way you got to go along, you got to keep going
this way yourself, too. Okay, we're in Oh, man, we're all praying in this direction. And the mom is
called the mom because he's having he's leading you in a particular direction, and you're following
his direction, you know, specifically. So this is actually the idea of being an oma. Now, Ibrahim
alayhis salam is called an oma by himself. What does that mean? It actually means that he did not
need anybody else. Or he didn't feel pressure from anybody else. No matter what pressure society put
on him, or family put on him. He decided he's going to find his own direction. And he's going to
		

			stick with it is good enough for him? Even if he's a nation, just one man. So Hon, Allah, what an
incredible thing. It's easy to say. But it's not easy to do. Because we live. I don't know, I think
there's something wrong with the baby. I'm gonna stop. I'm going to take a minute and check on this
child. Just give me a minute. You know, we've we call ourselves living in a free society. We think
that we have choice. But actually every choice you make, you have to think about what pressure from
other people was put on you before you made that choice? What how much other people influenced the
decision that you made? And how much of it did you consider if this one's feelings are going to
		

			hurt? I won't do it. If this one's going to criticize me, I won't do it. If this one's going to what
are they their comments, our fear of people's comments or fear of people, the way people are gonna
look at us, our fear of the way people are gonna judge us and those those could be people in your
close circle. There could be people outside, it could be people in the office, there could be people
on campus, etc, etc. How much of our decisions are a product of our environment, and us just trying
to fit in? We don't want to you know, for some people, the most important thing is I don't want to
seem weird.
		

			Don't want to seem like the one that's sticking out from everybody. I don't want that kind of
attention. I just want to blend in and be invisible. Or maybe I just want to be cool enough that
everybody thinks I'm normal like them. And you know, what's crazy, everybody has that perception in
their head, everybody's trying to be normal. And nobody knows what normal really is. And they live
by that that becomes a kind of religion, that becomes a kind of a law, that people are governed by
down to what kind of car Am I going to get? What neighborhood Am I going to live in? How am I going
to furnish my house? What am I going to dress like everyday? What words Am I going to use? You know,
		

			where am I going to get an education? One time I was having a conversation with a young student, I
won't tell you what state he went, he was going to a very expensive University. And he was young
guys, sophomore year. And I asked him, so what do you do? He says, I'm studying accounting. I was
like, Well, okay, how many years have you studied? accounting is like two years. So what tuition
Have you paid? He said, I've paid about, you know, 100,000, so far, 50,000 a year? I was like, for
accounting? Because Yeah. Like, did you do you have that money? He's like, no, I took a loan,
student loan, and another two years. That's about 200,000. So another 100,000 ago, and after that,
		

			what's the starting salary for accountants? Well, I probably won't get a job right away, I'll
probably have to get a CPA. And then then I'll probably get a job starting and maybe 70,000 60,000.
Like, oh, but if you get that job, how are you going to pay off this loan? Well, you know, it's
probably going to take a few years, like, take a few years, this is bad accounting. You're an
accounting major.
		

			But why are you going to this school? This particular school? Do you know that other students of
accounting have gone to other schools that are paying much less tuition than this are actually
getting the same amount of money that you're getting? And why did you choose to do this? And even if
you know, it's a four year school, the first couple of years, nobody, I've, I've been an employer,
I've hired people in accounting. I've hired people in technology and others, I've done interviews
myself to go get jobs. Nobody's ever asked me, where did you do sophomore year of college? Or where
did you go freshmen? Nobody cares. Nobody ever cares. He will care about your work, experience, your
		

			work ethic, the way you carry yourself this, but this perception that if I go to a brand name
school, and spend hundreds and hundreds of 1000s of dollars to become an accountant.
		

			Why? Because there's a perception. And that perception can dictate some major life decisions for
this young man, when he's about to get married in a couple of years. He's under debt. You
understand? Like, what a major decision that is that's going to influence whether or not he's going
to be able to afford whether whether or not he's going to be able to go to college? What what stress
is he going to have on his head when he's about to have his first child? Because before he started
his life, he's already buried under debt, you know? So the idea of being free from perception, being
free from what other people are going to think and independently try to make a decision. And instead
		

			of being you know, this one phrase, what are people gonna think? What are people going to say, to be
able to free yourself from that you become an oma on your own. Ibrahim alayhis salam became an oma
on his own, even at a very young age. You have to appreciate the kind of pressures he was under.
From the very earliest things we learn about Ibrahim alayhis, salam, our problems, the earliest
things as a young man, he starts questioning whether or not you know, how can we worship idols. In a
city, the city of Ooh, the Bible will tell us the name of the city, the Quran won't tell us the
ancient city of all, which was surrounded by idols, every house had idols, small size, large size,
		

			there were hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of idols, and the three main idols were representative
of the sun, the moon and the star Jupiter. Okay. Now we'll call on Costco club.
		

			And so these idols were part of the culture part of society and his father was actually someone who
made idols. And some argue that wasn't his father, it was an uncle, that's not even the point. Even
if it was his uncle, it's the one that takes care of him provides for him. And that man, if he's
providing these idols, he's doing pretty good in the, in the community. And he's respected in the
community. Right? And now his his own, you know, his either son or nephew is actually now starting
to question what his father does for a living. And what you know, he's trying to question the
business and the customers, all of them. This is an embarrassment to the family. How can you say
		

			this? But you know, sometimes people read the story of Abraham, are they someone they're like, well,
thank God, my dad's not selling idols. So I don't have that problem. Yeah, but he's gonna he's
running a liquor store. He's got a lot of machine at the cash register.
		

			There. There's some of our families they're indirectly explicitly have on businesses. And the son
can't get up and say this is wrong, because it's bad for the family. So he won't say anything.
Because Baba will get upset. He won't say anything because the family will get upset. So you can't
he has to just be quiet and show respect. And what's even
		

			funnier is that his Muslim parents will tell him, haven't you read Quran it tells you to be
respectful to your parents. In Allah when I lay here on your own when the religion is used to shut
someone up, but not to submit yourself, openly rebel against Allah, then this is the reason we are
learning the story of Ibrahim Ali Salaam standing up for what's right. Even if it means the people
very close to you are going to be hurt by it. Even if it means that Ibrahim Ali Salam was not hard
hearted Ibrahim al Islam is a very loving man. As a matter of fact, even as his father is kicking
him out of the house. He says yeah, Betty, my beloved father My father, I love you. Come join me my
		

			Lamia technologies come to me that didn't come to you. I'll take two more minutes. I know I took
time away. I'll take two more minutes for this club but but it's just pay attention to this one
thing and I want to start from the this this week is that Ibrahim Ali Salaam, though he was loving
and caring for his father and concern for him, his commitment to the truth and that dictating his
direction was always number one. Everything else came number two. Why? Why is his commitment to the
truth so important? Allah describes himself. Why was he an oma carnita Lila in the eye he says Anita
Linda, he was an absolute willing, happy submission to Allah. There is no reluctance in him when it
		

			comes to giving up before Allah.
		

			In other words, it doesn't matter what pressure anybody else puts. Once Allah puts pressure on him
and says, This is what you must do. Once he's convinced this is what a law wants. None of those
pressures, you can think of them as chains, but those chains snap, immediately snap and he can just
go and be inside out before his robe. None of that other stuff matters. No pressure matters. No
fear, no intimidation, no concern. None of that matters because I'm going to submit to Allah, He is
the one who will make everything, okay. I can't fix anything, I can't control people, I can control
how they will feel or whether they'll be okay with me or offended by me. All I can control is my
		

			submission to Allah. That's all I can handle on it and Allah. And then the final word he used to
describe him as hanifin. And even though I was going to spend a longer time describing hanifin, to
give you briefly what that means. Hanif hanafin Arabic, actually Hanford was used even for a bow,
you know, a bow is supposed to be a straight piece of wood, and they bend it, they put pressure on
it. When you pressure something to bend against the mold is pushing, it's pushing. And the moment
you let go, it'll go back to being straight, you understand. So when you create a main, you create
an a bend, or you create a turn, but it takes a lot of force to do it. And then once you do it, you
		

			have to hold that pressure. That's actually one of the original meanings of Hanif. It actually has
to do with men to turn. But when something turns easily, it's jennife. And when it's very hard to
turn something, it's called Hanif, and he's a honey, if you know what that means that his commitment
to the truth is something that always requires a great deal of effort on his part. It's not easy.
And there's all these pressures for him to just why are you trying so hard, go back to normal, like
it's supposed to be like everybody else, let go. But he won't. He's handy. The essence of our means
constantly struggling to bend away from falsehood, to keep away from falsehood. This is his struggle
		

			in life, that's actually a lifestyle. In other words, when we become like Ibrahim Alayhi, salam,
then this idea of constantly struggling, constantly being criticized, constantly being questioned,
that's going to become your lifestyle. And that sounds like a pretty miserable lifestyle. Because if
that's what you're gonna do, then you're always there's always going to be someone saying something
negative towards you, and nobody likes you. And that's why understandably, he's all alone. Kind of
Oh, my father, let him go near that group of people are trying to burn him alive. You know, he's out
traveling by the desert. In Nevada women come with a few who followed them had to say we have
		

			nothing to do with you. He was isolated. You will think of that as a very difficult life but Allah
corrects us our thinking. He wants us to reprogram our minds when it comes to Ibrahim alayhis salam
and therefore our religion. What does he say? He says, you know, in the same ayat, he says, what are
the inner who Fredonia Hashanah. We gave him good in this life. We gave him good in this life. Now
you it's easy to recite these IOD? Well, I'll tell you now who had dunya Hashanah. But
		

			how do you think about Ibrahim Ali Salaam and think a good life easy life, blessings in life? This
is the same job we make at hedge. There is no accident that when we go to that broken and we return
to a line setup, but not enough adonia hustle. It's the same words. Allah use those words for who?
Rahim Allah Islam, Athena who fit dunya Hashanah. We gave him hustler in this world. And we're doing
it at the same house that he built. We have to think about what did it mean that he had a good life?
I have to really concentrate on what does it mean that Ibrahim Alayhi Salaam had a good life. His
life was filled with stress
		

			And difficulty. The greatest blessing in this life is if you can remain committed to submitting to
Allah, no matter what happens around you, whether there are enemies around you that are trying to
burn you alive that they tried to do to him, or their loved ones around you that out of love or
trying to bend you, take you back to the way you were It doesn't matter what kinds of pressure there
are pressures that come from love or pressures that come from hate. It wouldn't matter. You will
remain Hanif, you will turn away from fall so no matter what it takes, that is the greatest blessing
a person can have in their life. And so he's out in Allah describes him as a now for dunya Hassan
		

			when he lived in Australia and Aloma Jimena Swanee barakallahu li walakum Khurana Hakeem when a
family we are coming it was lucky